By Cheah Chor Sooi
Remember the days when e-hailing first made inroads in Malaysia? There was significant resistance from taxi drivers who feared for their livelihoods.
Nevertheless consumer pressure was so overwhelming that the public transport authority (beginning with the Land Public Transport Commission and currently, the Land Public Transport Agency) ultimately made the bold move to regulate the e-hailing service industry instead of banning it outright.
A similar logic should thus be applied with regard to electronic cigarette (e-cigarette) and vaping; a blanket ban simply won’t do the trick as these products have become a global phenomenon.
In the US, concerns have been raised that the move by its Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove e-cigarette flavours from the regulated market is counter-productive to public health.
Just as alcohol prohibition provoked thousands of alcohol-related poisonings from bootleggers, banning e-cigarette flavours may lead to more people purchasing unregulated products from the black market.
‘
Sensible regulations
This should offer some food for thought for the Ministry of Health (MoH) which is widely expected to introduce laws on the usage of vape and electronic cigarettes in 2020.
Samsul Kamal Ariffin, president of the Malaysian Organisation of Vape Entities (MOVE), a non-profitable organisation that strives to get the Malaysian vaping industry regulated, welcomes the regulating of the vaping industry but “not to the extent of over-regulation”.
Speaking to the writer, he opines that the approach should be consumer-friendly in that it shouldn’t lead to making vaping products inaccessible in the marketplace.
“As it is, cigarettes are easily available at convenience stores,” he justifies. “This is in line with our belief that e-cigarettes should only be used by current smokers to kick their habit as opposed to enticing a new generation of smokers.”
In this regard, the authorities can highlight the age limit or even warn consumers on the health hazards of vaping on the label of e-liquid bottles (similar to cigarette packs) or even to authorise sales of devices and juices by only outlets licensed by the MoH.
Eradicating confusion
To effectively regulate e-cigarette usage, there is a need to first resolve conflicting views on the health hazards of vaping.
It has to be pointed out that the recently published question and answer on e-cigarettes by the World Health Organisation (WHO) has drawn flak from the scientific and medical community for providing “false, misleading or simplistic information”.
“The WHO has a history of anti-vaping activism that is damaging the industry’s reputation,” commented Prof Peter Hajek, director of the Tobacco Dependence Research Unit at Queen Mary University of London. He further observed that:
- There is no evidence that vaping is “highly addictive” – less than 1% of non-smokers become regular vapers.
- Vaping does not lead young people to smoke.
- There is no evidence that vaping increases the risk of heart disease or that it could have any effect at all on bystanders’ health.
- The US outbreak of lung injuries is due to contaminants in illegal marijuana cartridges and has nothing to do with nicotine vaping (the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have reported 2,711 cases with 60 deaths as of Jan 21 this year).
- There is clear evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers quit.
If Malaysia decides to regulate vaping, the “gold standard” in terms of public policy is the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS) for it has received praises for having tightly regulated e-cigarettes and vape for safety and quality.
The NHS stance is sensible – while vaping is not completely risk free, it carries a small fraction of the risk of smoking cigarettes. Public Health England (PHE) says e-cigarettes are 95% safer than tobacco though fewer than half of smokers are aware of this fact.
Burgeoning industry
Surprisingly, there is little publicity to the very fact that Malaysian-made e-liquids are global best sellers. Considering that they have successfully penetrated the UK and many European markets, Malaysian brewers surely have to meet stringent criteria in terms of pricing, volume of liquid and nicotine content for the flavoured juices, according to MOVE founder Samsul Kamal.
With proper regulations in place, he is optimisic that the vape industry can indirectly promote Malaysia’s gig economy from an employment standpoint while saving lives (by getting people to quit smoking).
Lots of SMEs involved
According to statistics by the Malaysia E-Vaporisers and Tobacco Alternative Association (Mevta), there are more than 5,000 small and medium enterprises involved in the vaping industry while the country’s e-cigarette market is valued at between RM1.5 bil and RM2 bil a year, and serves about 1.2 million e-cigarette users.
“Amid the global economic uncertainties, it is music to the ears that we have start-ups which can produce world-class vaping products (devices and flavoured juices) from their own backyards,” Samsul Kamal enthuses.
“While vape mods (devices) which boast top-notch quality and creativity are known to be sold at RM20,000 to RM30,000 each, vegetable glycerin or VG, which is one of the four major contents of e-liquids is based on palm oil which we have in abundance here,” he adds.
All-in-all, demand for e-cigarettes and vaping is expected to grow exponentially all over the world, including Malaysia.
The global e-cigarette and vape market is expected to reach US$47.11 bil by 2025, registering a compound annual growth rate of 24.9% from 2019 to 2025, according to a new study by Grand View Research Inc.
“The growing awareness of consuming safe, smokeless, and ashless tobacco is expected to propel market growth,” the study notes. “The adoption of vaping devices is expected to increase, particularly among individuals willing to quit smoking or willing to smoke merely for recreation.”
The ultimate policy goal should be to ensure that smokers can easily transition to vaping, but not to make it so accessible and appealing that non-smokers start vaping.
